2024 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland

← 2019 4 July 2024 (2024-07-04) Next →

← outgoing members elected members →

First party Second party Third party   Leader Michelle O'Neill[a] Gavin Robinson Colum Eastwood Party Sinn Féin DUP SDLP Leader since 23 January 2017[b] 29 March 2024 14 November 2015 Leader's seat MLA forMid Ulster Belfast East Foyle Last election 22.8%, 7 MPs 30.6%, 8 MPs 14.9%, 2 MPs Seats won 7 5 2 Seat change 0 3 0 Popular vote 210,891 172,058 86,861 Percentage 27.0% 22.1% 11.1% Swing 4.2% 8.5% 3.8%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Naomi Long Doug Beattie Jim Allister Party Alliance UUP TUV Leader since 26 October 2016 17 May 2021 7 December 2007 Leader's seat MLA forBelfast East[c] MLA forUpper Bann North Antrim Last election 16.8%, 1 MP 11.7%, 0 MPs Did not contest Seats won 1 1 1 Seat change 0 1 1 Popular vote 117,191 94,779 48,685 Percentage 15.0% 12.2% 6.2% Swing 1.8% 0.5% 6.2%

Results by constituencies

The2024 general election inNorthern Ireland was held on 4 July 2024, with all 18 Northern Irish seats in theHouse of Commons contested. The general election occurred after the recently completedconstituency boundaries review.

MPs are elected in 18 single-member constituencies byfirst-past-the-post.

On 22 May 2024, Prime MinisterRishi Sunak announced 4 July 2024 as the election date.^[1]

In June 2023, it was published that The Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland had made final recommendations for the new boundaries for Northern Ireland's 18 parliamentary constituencies. The report was submitted to the speaker of the UK House of Commons and the UK Government was required to submit a draft of an Order in Council to activate the new boundaries within four months.^[2] Changes include:

• Belfast South becameBelfast South and Mid Down, and incorporates some areas formerly part ofStrangford orLagan Valley.
• East Antrim now includes some areas that were previously inNorth Antrim.
• Foyle was reduced in size, with areas incorporated into the constituencies ofWest Tyrone andEast Londonderry.^[2]
• Strangford was expanded to include large swathes of the eastern side ofSouth Down.

Ten wards were moved and as approved by MPs, the new boundaries became effective on 1 November 2023.^[3] These changes were approved at a meeting of thePrivy Council on 15 November^[4] and came into force on 29 November.^[5]

In the run up to the election, there was speculation to the extent at whichunionistelectoral pacts would be active in some constituencies.^[6] In July 2023,Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leaderDoug Beattie clarified that his party intends to stand candidates in 17 constituencies, but there was still speculation about whether theTraditional Unionist Voice (TUV) would field candidates.^[7] The TUV leaderJim Allister said that in seats held by non-unionists where the sitting MP could potentially be ousted, it would support an "agreed single unionist candidate".^[8]

InNorth Down, there were calls for unionist parties to drop their own candidates and unite behind a single contender to defeat incumbentAlliance MPStephen Farry.^[9] Farry was confirmed as Alliance's candidate for North Down on 26 November 2023.^[10] On 24 January 2024, the UUP selected formerIraq War veteranTim Collins as their candidate for North Down, with the UUP leader Doug Beattie saying his party "does not do pacts".^[11]Independent Unionist MLAAlex Easton announced his candidacy for the seat on 25 April 2024.^[12]

In October 2023 theAlliance Party of Northern Ireland revealed that they intended to targetLagan Valley, seat of the then-leader of theDemocratic Unionist Party (DUP)Jeffrey Donaldson. They unveiled their candidate asSorcha Eastwood and required a 7.16% swing to gain the seat from the DUP.^[13]

Amongst majoritynationalist constituencies, due to their strong performance in the 2022 Assembly election and the2023 local elections,Sinn Féin look "likely to increase its number of seats at Westminster", with the possibility of gainingSocial Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) leaderColum Eastwood's seat ofFoyle.^[14]

The campaign got underway inSouth Belfast and North Down, with both incumbent MPs,Claire Hanna and Stephen Farry seeking re-election. North Down Ulster Unionist candidate Tim Collins said he was "very confident" of unseating Farry.^[15]

In January 2024, the Ulster Unionist Party selected their former leader andMinister of HealthRobin Swann as their candidate for South Antrim^[16] and announced their deputy leader,Robbie Butler, as the party's candidate forLagan Valley.^[17]

On 16 March 2024, theTraditional Unionist Voice formed anelectoral pact withReform UK, in which the two parties would stand mutually agreed candidates within Northern Ireland.^[18] On 24 May they announced that they were supporting Alex Easton, the Independent Unionist candidate in North Down, and would not stand a candidate in that constituency.^[19]

The leader of theGreen Party Northern Ireland,Sen.Mal O'Hara, toldSlugger O'Toole on 26 April 2024 that they would stand in every constituency and would not pursue any electoral pacts.^[20]

On 7 May 2024, the UUP announced that 19 year-old Jay Basra, who is Punjabi-British, would be their candidate forMid Ulster.^[21] Following the announcement, Basra was the target ofracial abuse onsocial media. The abuse was condemned by UUP leaderDoug Beattie and formerFirst MinisterArlene Foster, as well as deputy First MinisterEmma Little-Pengelly.^[22]

Jeffrey Donaldson, who was the DUP leader until March 2024, appeared in court on 3 July to face additional sex offence charges.^[23][24]

2024 United Kingdom general election (4 July)
Incumbent government
Rishi Sunak Ministry Premiership
Parties
Labour Conservative Liberal Democrats Co-operative Party SNP Sinn Féin DUP Reform UK Green Plaid Cymru SDLP Alliance TUV UUP Alba Workers
Campaign
Candidates Manifestos Conservative Labour Liberal Democrats Reform UK Betting scandal Opinion polling Endorsements
Overview by country
England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales
Outcome
Results by constituency MPs elected
New government
Keir Starmer Ministry Premiership
Related
Local elections MPs who stood down 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies Blue wall Red wall Sea wall
← 2019 2024 Next →
v t e

This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(June 2024)

The following polls asked about voters' opinions onMichelle O'Neill, theFirst Minister of Northern Ireland since 3 February 2024,Vice President of Sinn Féin since 10 February 2018 andDeputy First Minister of Northern Ireland from 11 January 2020 to 4 February 2022.

The following polls asked about voters' opinions onJeffrey Donaldson, the leader of theDemocratic Unionist Party (DUP) from 30 June 2021 to 29 March 2024.

The following polls asked about voters' opinions onNaomi Long, the leader of theAlliance Party since 26 October 2016.

The following polls asked about voters' opinions onDoug Beattie, theleader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) since 27 May 2021.

The following polls asked about voters' opinions onColum Eastwood, the leader of theSocial Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) since 14 November 2015.

The following polls asked about voters' opinions onJim Allister, the leader ofTraditional Unionist Voice (TUV) since 7 December 2007.

The following poll asked respondents to rate the performance of political leaders in the last few months, scoring from 0% to 100% for each leader.

Affiliate[40]		Seats					Aggregate votes
		Total	Gains	Losses	Net +/-	Of all (%)	Total	Of all (%)	Difference
	Sinn Féin	7	0	0		38.9	210,891	27.0	4.2
	DUP	5	0	3	3	27.8	172,058	22.1	8.5
	SDLP	2	0	0		11.1	86,861	11.1	3.8
	Alliance	1	1	1		5.6	117,191	15.0	1.8
	UUP	1	1	0	1	5.6	94,779	12.2	0.5
	TUV	1	New			5.6	48,685	6.2	New
	Independent	1	1	0	1	5.6	23,602[41]	3.1	2.8
	Green (NI)	0	0	0		0.0	8,692	1.1	0.9
	People Before Profit	0	0	0		0.0	8,438	1.1	0.2
	Aontú	0	0	0		0.0	7,466	1.0	0.2
	Labour Alternative	0	Did not stand in 2019			0.0	624	0.1	—
	NI Conservatives	0	0	0		0.0	553	0.1	0.6
	Total	18	—			100%	779,840	57.3	4.5

This sectionpossibly containsoriginal research. Pleaseimprove it byverifying the claims made and addinginline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed.(October 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(October 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Sinn Féin became the largest Northern Ireland party in the House of Commons for the first time, following similar success in the2022 Assembly election and2023 local election. Sinn Féin defended their seven seats with an increased majority in each,South Down,Belfast North and especiallyFermanagh and South Tyrone are less marginal than they were in2019. Sinn Féin also came very close to gainingEast Londonderry, Kathleen McGurk was the runner-up just 179 votes behind the DUP. Sinn Féin also narrowed the SDLP's majority inFoyle.

TheDUP won five seats, three less than in2019, this was the lowest number of DUP MPs since2001 and since the DUP became the largest unionist party. The DUP lostLagan Valley to Alliance,South Antrim to the UUP andNorth Antrim to the TUV. The loss of North Antrim by just 450 votes is particularly notable, the DUP had held this seat for its entire existence, and between themIan Paisley andIan Paisley Jr had represented this constituency for 54 years since 1970. The majorities ofSammy Wilson inEast Antrim and especiallyGregory Campbell inEast Londonderry, were significantly reduced, both were narrowly held against challenges from Alliance by 1,306 votes and Sinn Féin by 179 votes respectively. A more positive result for the DUP was the re-election of new leaderGavin Robinson inBelfast East with a slightly increased majority, the DUP also heldStrangford andUpper Bann.

TheSDLP held their two seats. InFoyle SDLP leaderColum Eastwood's majority was reduced from 17,110 to 4,166, mainly due to lower turnout although there was a swing to Sinn Féin.Claire Hanna was also re-elected to the newBelfast South and Mid Down constituency with a slightly reduced majority of 12,506, this is now the fifth safest seat in Northern Ireland after Sinn Féin's four safest seats. Outside of these two constituencies the SDLP vote mainly decreased, withBelfast West a notable exception. The SDLP was the runner-up inSouth Down andNewry and Armagh, both were previously SDLP held seats but are increasingly safe for Sinn Féin.

Alliance remains the third largest party in Northern Ireland in terms of vote share, as it was in the2022 Assembly election and2023 local election. Alliance gainedLagan Valley from the DUP, withSorcha Eastwood becoming the third directly elected Alliance MP. Alliance also lostNorth Down, with independent unionistAlex Easton gaining from Alliance deputy leaderStephen Farry, the party leaderNaomi Long also lost inBelfast East, Long was the previous MP for Belfast East from 2010 to 2015. Alliance came a particularly close second inEast Antrim, and was also runner-up inStrangford and inBelfast South and Mid Down for the first time since 1987. In other constituencies the Alliance vote was generally down slightly from their peak in2019, but higher than any previous elections.

TheUUP gained a seat in the House of Commons for the first time since2015, with the election ofRobin Swann inSouth Antrim, Swann achieved the highest majority in South Antrim since 1997 (7,512). The UUP was runner-up in one other constituency,Fermanagh and South Tyrone, which the party had last won in2015, although Diana Armstrong was the sole unionist candidate the increase in the Sinn Féin vote ensured the seat remained a Sinn Féin hold. As with Alliance, the UUP's second best prospect in this election wasEast Antrim, fewer than 2,000 votes separated the top three candidates.

TheTUV gained a seat in the House of Commons for the first time, withJim Allister gainingNorth Antrim from the DUP by 450 votes. Beyond North Antrim the TUV's strongest constituencies wereEast Londonderry,East AntrimandStrangford. The other MP elected in Northern Ireland was independent unionistAlex Easton inNorth Down who gained the seat from Alliance, Easton left the DUP in 2021 and he is the fourth North Down MP to have been elected either as an independent or with a smaller unionist party after leaving the DUP or UUP.

• Elections in Northern Ireland
• Next Northern Ireland Assembly election
• 2024 United Kingdom general election in England
• 2024 United Kingdom general election in Scotland
• 2024 United Kingdom general election in Wales
• List of marginal seats before the 2024 United Kingdom general election

• 2024 United Kingdom general election
• 2024 in Northern Ireland
• 2024 elections in Northern Ireland
• General elections in Northern Ireland to the Parliament of the United Kingdom

• CS1 maint: archived copy as title
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from November 2023
• Use British English from May 2024
• All Wikipedia articles written in British English
• Wikipedia articles in need of updating from June 2024
• All Wikipedia articles in need of updating
• Articles with hCards
• Pages using bar box without float left or float right
• Articles that may contain original research from October 2025
• All articles that may contain original research
• Articles needing additional references from October 2025
• All articles needing additional references